Re: (ADMIN) Suggestion

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 21:16:28 -0500 

Various people recently wrote of footers and other matters of consequence:

> > of mine subscribes to another listserver, on which *all* the messages
> > received are posted with a footer giving instructions on how to unsubscribe
> > from the list at any time. Do you think this would be a good - or possible

I'm no longer in the business of running all the university's lists (whew!)
and I don't have much involvement in overall list service any longer, but I
understand that the existing older lists will move to a new server that has
such a capability as Camille suggests.  I myself agree with Matt, below,
that I don't much like them -- footers like that always make me feel as if
I'm at a party at which the host is forever, pointedly, showing me where
the door is.

There's probably another eight months before we would have to switch, and I
imagine we'll have plenty of time to discuss all this here.  Feel free to
contribute.

> We used to have such a trailer attatched to all messages.  To be entirely
> honest (sorry, Stephen), it was ugly, and after a while, it began to make
> some of us nervous.  I would twitch a lot while reading mail and I didn't
> sleep well on weeknights.  Will had to get corrective lenses.  I don't
> remember when it finally disappeared, but I recall the electronic
> equivalent of a rainbow stretching across the list for a week or so.

I just unsubscribed and resubscribed every day, but then I took medication
for it.  (No offense intended, Stephen!)

> The better way to handle would-be unsubscribers is for Tim to hire a
> couple of guys to rough people up a little when they discard their list
> membership reference card.

I had been hoping to handle it myself, but I failed out of tough-guy
school, and when my kneecaps are better I will try again....

ObSalinger: Last night I had a perfectly rational dream about visiting him
and introducing him to soul food.  But now after a day of bleary overcast
skies and a walk in the rain, I don't recall why the dream made any sense
at all.  But I feel compelled to mention it for those among us who think we
don't talk about Salinger or his works enough here.

Cheers!

--tim